Page 19 of Weatherman

Yes, but not today.

On impulse, he opened his contacts and scrolled to her name.

Weatherman: Hey, are you up?

The three dots stayed still.

What the hell am I doing?He moved his thumb to close the app when the dots started bouncing.

Opal: Yes, Kimmie just came home and woke up Pearl. I’m trying to get her back to sleep. Anything wrong?

“Anything wrong?” How ’bout everything?

Weatherman: There’s a lot on my mind.

Opal: Want to tell me?

Weatherman: I don’t want to get into it too much. I had a really rough day at work.

Opal: I understand. It gets tough sometimes at the salon, too, especially when BurnaJones comes. She’s never happy unless she’s complaining about something.

Weatherman: Yeah, I’ve seen her in action.

Opal: I used to be pretty negative about a lot of things myself. I believed life had nothing to offer me, but someone helped me see there was good in the world. All I had to do was reach for it and I’d eventually find it.”

Weatherman: Have you? Found it, that is?

Opal: I don’t know, but I hope so. If not, then I can start again tomorrow, right?

Weatherman inhaled deeply through his nose, then blew out slowly with pursed lips. His wild emotions were calmer now. Opal wasn’t exactly a close friend, but she was no longer a stranger. As the saying goes, any port in a storm is a good one, but he sensed that she understood what he was dealing with better than most.

His mom coughed and turned over, breaking his thoughts about the pretty hairdresser.

Weatherman: Yeah, you’re right. Tomorrow is a new day. Is Pearl asleep yet?

Opal: Yes. I should be able to put her down now.

Weatherman: I should let you go, then. Thanks for texting with me. It helped a lot.

Opal: You’re welcome. Good night.

CHAPTER 10

Summerin the North Carolina mountains was muggy and hot. Fall wasn’t turning out to be much better. From the gossip in the salon, I figured out that this season had way less rainfall than normal. Everyone talked about how low the rivers were and how some tributaries had all but dried up. Nights were only a little cooler, and the tourists flocked to raft what was left of the river, swim in the lowered lakes, and ride the trains.

The salon stayed busy with people coming and going all day. My chair was constantly full, and I was happy to have a roster of clients who came to me regularly. Cuts, color, perms, styling, wedding parties—all sorts of jobs filled my days, and the tips didn’t suck.

Pearl was walking all the time now and getting into everything. I had to watch her like a hawk in the small apartment, as sitting still was no longer an option. She pulled up on anything that held her weight and grabbed at whatever caught her curious eye. Anything within her grasping range had to go on higher shelves. She was eating like a little pig, and it seemed like I had to buy her new clothes every week as fast as she was growing.

I was happy, or at least content for now.

The only blemish was my roommate. Kimmie was going out and drinking. A lot. Many nights she came home late or not at all. Sometimes Pearl woke up with her noise, and more than once, I had to rock my girl back to sleep, barely keeping my own eyes open while I did it. I tried to talk to Kimmie about her choices, and for a while, she would straighten up, but then the call of the bars and the men got too much for her and she went right back to them.

I was pretty sure it was because she was lonely. I had my daughter to take care of, which left me little time outside work to consider having any kind of companionship. There was only so much I could do for my friend. I hoped she recognized the path she was on soon before she did more damage to herself.

The bell at the salon’s door rang as Betsey came in. “Hey, y’all. How’s everyone doing?”

A chorus of “Just fines” and “Real goods” echoed back.

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